THERMOPLASTIC ELASTOMERS
TPE producers build up capacity
Encouraged by the growth rate in thermoplastic elastomers, producers are building up their capacities. Latest official estimates from the International Institute of Synthetic Rubber Producers (IISRP) put world consumption TPEs at 823,000 t in 1994, and forecast a rise to 1.078m t in 1999, indicating an overall increase of 31% or an average annual growth rate of 5.5%. Regional growth rates are put at: N America 6.7%, Western Europe 4.4%, Asia/Oceania 3.9%, Latin America 14%.
DSM Elastomers bv will double its US capacity for Sarlink thermoplastic elastomers (TPE) at Leominster, USA, to 10,000 t/y by mid-1995, and will increase its European capacity to 5,000 t/y with a new line at DSM Speciality Compounds, Genk, Belgium. The move is in line with DSM's aim to secure a 20% share of the global market for thermoplastic elastomers by the turn of the century, focusing on the markets in N America and Europe, where it estimates demand has been growing at an annual rate of 12% in the past few years. The trend is expected to continue in the coming years. Sales of the DSM TPE doubled in 1993 and 1994. US company president Marc Lebel comments that the future success of the DSM material will owe much to the synergy with the existing activities of the group in EPDM rubber and polyolefins.
And, celebrating the tenth anniversary of its plant at Newport, UK, Advanced Elastomer Systems (AES), the joint venture of Monsanto and Exxon, forecasts that growth in the $1.6 billion thermoplastic elastomers business will outstrip both thermoplastics and thermoset rubber over the next ten years. Since starting its first European facility in 1984, AES has added thousands of tonnes of production increase per year, to keep pace with the rapid expansion, reckoned now at an annual rate of some 10%, with 32.5% of consumption in W Europe. In the ten years, the Newport plant has become the second largest manufacturing plant for Santoprene TPE, after the facility in Pensacola, Florida, USA. Automotive demand is cited as the main drive. Combining the TPE interests of both partners, AES produces styrenic and olefin-based TPEs under the names Santoprene, Vyram, Dytron, Geolast and Vistaflex.
DSM Elastomers bv will double its US capacity for Sarlink thermoplastic elastomers (TPE) at Leominster, USA, to 10,000 t/y by mid-1995, and will increase its European capacity to 5,000 t/y with a new line at DSM Speciality Compounds, Genk, Belgium. The move is in line with DSM's aim to secure a 20% share of the global market for thermoplastic elastomers by the turn of the century, focusing on the markets in N America and Europe, where it estimates demand has been growing at an annual rate of 12% in the past few years. The trend is expected to continue in the coming years. Sales of the DSM TPE doubled in 1993 and 1994. US company president Marc Lebel comments that the future success of the DSM material will owe much to the synergy with the existing activities of the group in EPDM rubber and polyolefins.
And, celebrating the tenth anniversary of its plant at Newport, UK, Advanced Elastomer Systems (AES), the joint venture of Monsanto and Exxon, forecasts that growth in the $1.6 billion thermoplastic elastomers business will outstrip both thermoplastics and thermoset rubber over the next ten years. Since starting its first European facility in 1984, AES has added thousands of tonnes of production increase per year, to keep pace with the rapid expansion, reckoned now at an annual rate of some 10%, with 32.5% of consumption in W Europe. In the ten years, the Newport plant has become the second largest manufacturing plant for Santoprene TPE, after the facility in Pensacola, Florida, USA. Automotive demand is cited as the main drive. Combining the TPE interests of both partners, AES produces styrenic and olefin-based TPEs under the names Santoprene, Vyram, Dytron, Geolast and Vistaflex.
31.05.1995 Plasteurope.com [20736]
Published on 31.05.1995